I cover high school sports for azcentral, with emphasis on football, cross country, badminton, girls basketball and baseball. I'll also be covering the AIA. I'm a Northwestern graduate and a Dallas native. I am sometimes good at fantasy football. Sometimes I'm horrible.

Catching up with former Mountain View star Brooke Jackson

Former Mesa Mountain View star Brooke Jackson is honored at a jersey dedication ceremony at halftime of Mountain View’s win over Tempe McClintock.

Former Mesa Mountain View starÂ Brooke JacksonÂ was honored last Friday at halftime of the Toroâ€™s win over Tempe McClintock. It looked like a jersey retirement ceremony, and it sounded like a jersey retirement ceremony, although coachÂ Henry BribiescasÂ kindly informed me it was a jerseyÂ dedicationÂ ceremony.

Whatever the nomenclature, Jackson was the first girls basketball player honored in such a way at Mountain View, and her No. 12 jersey will be displayed in a frame at the school.

â€śBrooke was one of those kids that in our history really elevated the program,â€ť Bribiescas said.

In her career at Mountain View from 2003-07 â€“ the last two with Bribiescas as coach â€“ Jackson set or tied 14 program records. Her senior year, the Toros went 31-3 and lost to Mesa Red Mountain in the 5A Division I state finals.

In Jacksonâ€™s final two years in the program, the two under Bribiescas, Mountain View won 57 of 68 games. Jackson was named an All-Arizona selection both years, and her name appears 27 times in the AIA state girls basketball records document on aia365.com.

â€śItâ€™s such an honor,â€ť Jackson said of the dedication ceremony. â€śIâ€™m just so happy and grateful.â€ť

After graduating from Mountain View in 2007, Jackson went on to star one year at Mesa Community College, two years at the University of Arizona and a final year at Utah State University while completing post-graduate work.

Jackson is still at Utah State finishing her masters, and is connected to the basketball program as a graduate assistant. After deciding that a history of knee injuries would make playing overseas imprudent, Jackson has determined to break into the college coaching ranks.

â€śI finished my career back in March, and I just missed it,â€ť she said. â€śIâ€™ve got to be around it. My body wouldnâ€™t let me play overseas, so coaching was next.â€ť

Jackson doesnâ€™t know where a coaching career might take her. Coming back to Arizona would be great, she said, but sheâ€™ll go where the opportunities are. Openings wonâ€™t even appear until after the NCAA tournament in March.

Since beginning high school in 2003, Jackson has played under five different head coaches. Two â€“ Bribiescas and Mesa CC coachÂ Kori StephensonÂ â€“ were present at the dedication ceremony last Friday. Former Arizona assistant and current Northern Arizona head coachÂ Sue DarlingÂ was also in attendance.

Jackson thinks her coaching style will mimic all three.

â€śIt would definitely be a little bit of each coach,â€ť she said. â€śIâ€™ve liked all my coaches. Iâ€™ve been so lucky to have the coaches that Iâ€™ve had.â€ť

azcentral.com has switched to the Facebook comment system on its blogs. Existing blog comments will display, but new comments will only be accepted via the Facebook comment system. To begin commenting, you must be logged into an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. While we welcome you to join conversations, readers are responsible for their comments and abuse of this privilege will not be tolerated. We reserve the right, without warning or notification, to remove comments and block users judged to violate our Terms of Service and Rules of Engagement. Facebook comments FAQ

Join thousands of azcentral.com fans on Facebook and get the day's most popular and talked-about Valley news, sports, entertainment and more - right in your newsfeed. You'll see what others are saying about the hot topics of the day.